Introduction to Applied

Linguistics
What is Linguistics?

• Linguistics is the scientific study of language. Linguists do

work on specific languages, but their primary goal is to
understand the nature of Language in general.
• Linguistics is primarily concerned with the nature of
language and communication. There are broadly three
aspects to the study, including language form, language
meaning, and language use in discursive and communicative
contexts.
• Linguistics deals with the study of particular languages, and
the search for general properties common to all languages or
large groups of languages.
Research questions in linguistics

1. What distinguishes human language from other

animal communication systems?
2. What features are common to all human
languages?
3. How are the modes of linguistic communication
(speech, writing, sign language of the deaf)
related to each other?
 What is Applied Linguistics (AL)?
• “AL is the utilisation of the knowledge about the nature of
language achieved by linguistic research for the improvement of
the efficiency of some practical task in which language is a
central component.” (Corder, 1974, p. 24)
• “The focus of applied linguistics is on trying to resolve language-
based problems that people encounter in the real world, whether
they be learners, teachers, supervisors, academics, lawyers,
service providers, those who need social services, test takers,
policy developers, dictionary makers, translators, or a whole
range of business clients.” (Grabe, 2002, p. 9).
• Applied Linguistics uses language-related research in a wide
variety of fields (e.g. language acquisition, language teaching,
literacy, gender studies, language policy, speech therapy,
discourse analysis, censorship, workplace communication,
media studies, translation, lexicography, forensic linguistics).
Comparing different branches of
linguistics

Theoretical Interdisciplinary Applied linguistics

linguistics linguistics

• Phonology, • Psycholinguistics, • Applied linguistics to

• Morphology, • Sociolinguistics, language education,
• Syntax and structural • Pragmatics, • Applied linguistics to
grammar, • Discourse analysis. foreign language
• Semantics, • Computational and corpus education,
• Historical linguistics. linguistics. • Translation studies,
• Lexicography.
What are the main areas of concern of
applied linguistics?

• Applied Linguistics, as a field of academic enquiry,

deals with the theoretical and empirical investigation
of real world problems in which language and
communication are a central issue. (e.g. first
language acquisition, second language acquisition,
language testing; workplace communication; critical
discourse analysis, translation and interpretation,
lexicography)
• Applied Linguistics is problem-oriented and a
problem-solving activity.
What is Conversational Analysis (CA)?

- an approach to the study of social interaction and talk-in-

interaction that, although rooted in the sociological study of
everyday life, has exerted significant influence across the
humanities and social sciences including linguistics.
- Drawing on recordings (both audio and video) naturalistic
interaction (unscripted, non-elicited, etc.) conversation analysts
attempt to describe the stable practices and underlying
normative organizations of interaction by moving back and forth
between the close study of singular instances and the analysis
of patterns exhibited across collections of cases.
- Four important domains of research within conversation
analysis are turn-taking, repair, action formation and
ascription, and action sequencing.
And what is conversation like?

• Spoken
• planned and produced spontaneously, in real time
• Informal
• Interactive, jointly constructed, reciprocal,
symmetrical
• Its function – interpersonal (establishing social ties,
expressive of social identities, expressive of wishes,
feelings, attitudes and judgements)

2. Conversation Analysis (CA

•Primarily spoken (!computer mediated
conversation) – reflected at the level of transcript
(stress, intonation, tempo, rhythm, voice quality)
•Happens in real time (hesitation, word repetition,
false starts, repairs, unfinished utterances,
ungrammaticality, lexical chunks, information is
loosely packed – not as lexically dense,)
•Interactive (dialogic, multi-authored – overlapping,
turns by two or more participants
• Interpersonal – speaker roles – equal distribution of
rights symmetrical/asymmetrical contributions/ flow of
talk/ initiating vs responding moves !!! Interactional vs.
Transactional moves – (buying vs. interview??,
classroom??)
• Informal – (lexical choices – use of slang, swearing,
colloquial language; pronunciation features –
contractions; vernacular grammar – regional varieties
!!! eg. Ain’t, me and Jodi, never gave you nothing)
• Expressive of identity (marked by expressions of
likes, dislikes and emotional states – lexical and
grammatical encoding of interpersonal purposes)
Supportive back-channelling (Mm)
Appraisal lg (I’m so glad, oh my God, probably,
completely)
Human agents (speaker is often the subject of the
sentence)
Telling stories
Preference for informal lg
Use of humour
Use of swearing
Use of nicknames/familiar forms of address
CA research interests
 the management of agreement/ disagreement

 the management of invitations/ requests

 the relationship between talk and non-vocal activities...

 moves that show how conflict escalates or how it is solved

 power relations between speakers

 managing misunderstandings

 manipulation strategies

 avoidance strategies

 Contexts: casual conversations, business meetings, mediation calls,

doctor-patient interaction, trials, sales, “black box” flight analyses….
I. THE VOCABULARY OF THE
CONVERSATION - Important elements
 Lexical size

 Lexical density and variety

 Lexical frequency
 Lexical repetition
 Vague language
 Fillers
 Discourse markers and inserts
 Lexical phrases
Lexical size
How many words do speakers of English need to
control?
 lower demands for speakers than for readers/writers
 Nation (1990) claims half of the vocabulary needed for
reading/writing (”to speak English it is not necessary to
have a large vocabualry”)
 McCarthy (1999) in reference to Schonell et al. (1956) -
2000 word families
 Adolphs and Schmitt (2003) - the 2000 word families
cover 95% of conversation
Lexical Density and Variety
1. What is lexical density?
 the ratio of content words to function words
 content words = words that carry a high information
load (nouns, adjectives, lexical verbs)
 function words = words that mainly serve a
grammatical purpose (articles, auxiliary verbs,
prepositions, inserts)
 spoken language or ”language-in-action” -low lexical
density
2. What is lexical variety? (difference in the tokens)
Lexical Frequency

 The most frequent 50 word types = 50 % of the word

tokens in that text
 50 most frequent words in a written text - only function
words (the, with, but, are, when...)
 50 most frequent words in a spoken text - include
function words and some content words (know, well, got,
think, right ...)
Lexical repetition

Definition = repetition at the word and phrase level and in

particular repetion of keywords
Types
 direct repetition
 the use of a derived word
 use of a synonym or a near-synonym (hyponym)
 use of another item from the same lexical set
 Discourse markers and other inserts
Since conversations are organised into loose, topically
coherent macrostructures (similar to paragraphs in writing) -
topics are broadened, commented on, developed, extended,
replaced... and this conversational flux is continuously shaped
and negotiated by interactants.
 Discourse markers serve to show how what is being said is
connected to what has already been said (connecting
adjacent utterances, topics, segments of a discourse) +
Other inserts (greetings and farewells, interjections, polite
formulae, hedges, expletives)
 Interactional signals (back-channelling -mhm, attention
signals - hey!, response elicitors - right?) – feedback to the
speaker
 Fillers = linguistic devices used to fill a momentary pause, a
momentary hesitation (well, I mean, er, erm, um, you know)
 Right, now, anyway – provide a frame – beginning or closing

 Well – common way to initiate

II. THE GRAMMAR of conversation

 - spoken grammar IS NOT written

grammar realised as speech
 - spoken grammar is not less complex or
“degenerate” in comparison with written
grammar
Is this meant to be read or is it spoken?
A: What would you like to drink?
B: Beer, if you have got it.
A: I think so. Just a minute. Yes, here you are.
B: Thanks.
A: Cigarette?
B: No thanks, I don't . How's the family?
A: They're OK. Peter's gone to the States for a
month.
B: Oh yes? Holiday? (...)
(Swan and Walter, 1984:57)
Is conversational grammar complex?
Complexity is achieved through assembling utterances in
stages instead of embedding subordinates

But you can't get the whole set done all at once
+ because if you do
+ you won't have any left to use at home
+ unless you just took the lids in
+ and kept the boxes
+ in which case you wouldn't have to have had everything unpacked
first
+but then you couldn't be sure the designs would match
+ so...
The grammar of conversation - features
 syntactic non-clausal units - inserts (response words - Oh yeah!,
back-channel devices - yeah?, interjections - Yuck! Gee!, discourse
markers - well)

 grammatical incompletion - abandonment - the speaker

abandons or re-starts an utterance)

“I,m so glad the kids were not there because you know that hole is just
above Debbie's head...”

 grammatical incompletion - interruption (interruption of another

speaker)

“Grace: I was speaking to erm...

Odile: Oh my god I hadn't thought about that...”

 grammatical incompletion - completion by other speaker

 “... they had to move out of the flat because the whole...
 ...roof collapsed”
 The grammar of conversation - features
 grammatical incompletion - blending

“ I think there's there's the colour I like is a sort of buttery yellow”

o Ellipsis = deliberate omission of items (subject pronoun, verb

complements, auxiliary verbs…) that are easily recoverable
from context

“Is your wife working? She going back to work?”

The grammar of conversation - features

DEIXIS
 = direct references to features in the
temporal/ spatial context of a conversation
(“pointing with language”) - personal
pronouns, demonstratives, adverbials
 Temporal deixis - now, then, immediately
 Spatial deixis - here, there, this, that
 Personal deixis (reference to themselves,
other speakers) - I, he, she
 The grammar of conversation - features
QUESTIONS
 syntactic form
- interrogative / declarative form
 function

- elicit information (How many cats have you got?)

- elicit confirmation (You don't like it?)
- elicit agreement (It's very funny, isn't it?)
Other classifications
- polarity questions (Yes/No)
- alternative questions (Left or Right?)
- rhetorical questions
- display questions (deisgned to elicit knowledge from
learners) / referential questions (where the asker does not
know the answer)
 The grammar of conversation - features

Verb forms reflect the here-and-now nature of

conversation
Tense - used as a grammatical marker of time
 - the most frequent tense in casual conversation
is Present Tense (outnumbering Past Tense forms
by four to one)
Aspect - distinguishes between actions that are
seen as complete (or not), in progress (or not)
- progressive aspect- most frequent in narratives to
provide the “frame”
Modality (attitude/judgement)
Conversation - Discourse features
Cohesion - utterance level, across turns
- grammatical cohesive devices (demonstratives and
personal pronouns)
- lexical cohesive devices (repetition, synonyms,
hyponyms, topically related items) - topic consistency
- the production and interpretation of
spoken discourse is facilitated both by
reference to the “here and now” of the
immediate context and to the speaker's
shared knowledge
 Example - Cohesion
(4) Rob: Oh a friend of ours in Paddington, they had to move out of the
flat ==
(5) Grace: ==Mm.
(6) Rob: because the whole==
(7) Grace: == roof collapsed.
(8) Rob: The tiles fell through the ceiling ==
(9) Grace: ==Mm
(10) Rob: into the room and they've actually had to move out completely
(11) Odile: Oh really?
(12) Dan: And there was the little old lady over the road who...
(13) Rob: Oh yeah. [laughs] She was sitting in her living room and a
hailstone fell through the skylight, this old Italian woman. She had
corrugated iron but it fell through the skylight, it fell through the ceiling and
landed in her lap when she was sitting==
(14) Odile: ==Mm
(15) Rob: watching television.
(16) Dan: Watching the X-files probably.
III. INTERACTION in conversation
 Why does only one person
speak at a time?
 How do speakers know when to
change turns?
 How do speakers know when to
initiate new topics?
 How do speakers know when it
is appropriate to interrupt?
 How can one speaker complete
another speaker’s utterance?
 How do interactants recognize
when a speaker wants to close
a conversation?
 The adjacency pair structure
of conversation (Schegloff
and Sacks 1973/1974)
 Turntaking mechanisms in
conversation (Schegloff,
Sacks and Jefferson 1974)
 How speakers initiate, shift
and close topics (topic
management) (Sacks 1992)
 How conversations can keep
going and continue to make
sense
Adjacency pairs
 Definition - the basic unit of interaction in Conversation
Analysis (it captures the local organization of talk)
 3 characteristics:
1. two utterances
2. utterances are adjacent, the first immediately follows the
second
3. different speakers produce each utterance
 Examples:
question/answer, complaint/denial, offer/accept,
request/grant, compliment/rejection, instruct/receipt
Example
A sequence = an adjacency pair + any expansions of that adjacency
pair (pre-sequence, insertion sequence, post-sequence)

A: What are you doing tonight? Pre-sequence – 1st pair part

B: Nothing. Pre-sequence – 2nd pair part
A: Do you want to have a drink? Base adjacency pair – 1st pair part
B: Where? Insertion sequence – 1st pair part
A: Down the pub. Insertion sequence – 2nd pair part
B: Great! Base adjacency pair – 2nd pair part
Moves and exchanges during conversation
Moves = Each utterance in a conversation

= the basic semantic unit in interactive talk

= indicates the point of possible transfer (turn-constructional

unit)

Each initiating move may be assigned a certain speech function –

command, statement, offer, question

!expected response vs. discretionary alternative – (refusal, rejection, contradiction)

• tracking (monitor, check, or clarify prior moves)
• challenging moves (challenge the speaker’s initiating move in some way)
Exercise:
A: I’m leaving tomorrow.
B: I don’t want to hear about it.

C: I’m just going to the shop.

D: To the shop?
Interaction in conversation - elements

Turntaking (in spite of overlaps and

interruptions the way people allocate turns is
not random, but speakers recognize points of
potential speaker change)
Topic management (how topic change occurs,
how topics are developed, topic choice)
Discourse strategies - openings and closings
- feedback (back-channelling)
Feedback
 Continuers – MMHM, UH, HUH

 Acknowledgements – MM, YEAH

 Assessments – HOW AWFUL, WONDERFUL ,SHIT

 News markers – REALLY? IS IT!

 Questions

 Completions

 Non-verbal vocalizations – LAUGHTER, SIGHS

Conversations so far
 Critical for the maintenance and modification of our social identities

 Creates and reflects our social world

 Primary location for the enactment of social values and relationships

 Has a certain structure (level of vocabulary, grammar, discourse,

interaction) – highly structured, functionally motivated, semantic
activity

 Macro-structure - Genre (a distinctive category of discourse,

spoken/written) – chat and chunk vs. gossip

 (Genre = “a staged, goal-oriented, social process in which speakers

engage as members of a culture” Martin 1984:25)
Genre analysis
The analysis of a spoken genre involves:
1. identifying a “chunk” of talk that is amenable to a generic
description
2. Defining the social purpose of the genre
3. Differentiating the different stages (the macro-structure), including
specifying obligatory and optional stages
4. Analysing the linguistic features of each stage

Eg. Shopping encounter in Western culture

(Salutation) ^ (Offer of Service) ^ Sale request ^ Sale Compliance ^

Sale ^ Purchase ^ Purchase Closure

A bag of crisps, please.

Here you are.
That’ll be a dollar fifty.
There you go.
Thanks.
Narrative structure (Labov and Waltetzky
1967)
 (Abstract) ^ Orientation ^ Complication ^ Evaluation ^ Resolution ^
(Coda)

Abstract = announces the onset of a narrative

Orientation = provide circumstantial info

Complication= introduce a problem

Evaluation = speaker’s attitude to the events

Resolution = how the actions of the speaker or those of smb. else solve
the problem

Coda = provide a bridge from the past time event to the present
conversation
Exercise 1

 I remember once I went to a film, and ah, I’d just bought this new
outfit and it was long, silky, black pants that came up all in one.

 I still remember going out to one of those meetings they brought out
the sandwiches, at one of those meetings they brought out the
sandwiches – in London when they had meetings at lunchtime or
something
Exercise 2
 Chris Jankowski said, well, one of her girlfriends one time made a
turkey. First time. And she said, “oh” she was so proud of herself,
she made the turkey. The only thing, she left the bag in. She said,
and then I said “Well nobody saw it, right?” She said, “Everybody
saw it”. I said “Oh, that was terrible. How would anybody keep a
bag in there”.

 ‘I did it. Nobody saw it. And I didn’t tell anybody.’ ‘I saw the thing.’
She said, ‘It said “ready to cook” so I,’ she said, ’who, nobody told
me I had to clean it’, she said, ‘so I put it in the oven.’ She put it in
with all the guts and everything. With the bag inside and everything.
She said, ‘but nobody knew it’. But, she said, ‘They ate it. It as
good.’
Pat: I remember once I went to a film, and ah, I’d just bought this new
outfit and it was long, silky, black pants that came up all in one.

Pauline: Mmm.

Pat: And hen it was an overlay with splits right up to here, and that was
in silk, and then it had a black sash. And I didn’t think anything of it till I
had to go to the toilet. I had to take the whole lot off and pull the whole
lot down. [laugh]

All: [laugh]

Pat: So I missed half the film.

All: [laugh]
Gossip
 Participant complicity
 Typically co-constructed
 Dialogic
 Participants frequently ask questions and provide feedback

(Explicit/implicit (tacit) agreement for the gossip to continue)

Third person focus ^ Pejorative Evaluation * Substantiating behavior *

Probe
 Third person = speaker’s intention to gossip

 Pejorative eval. = can either precede or follow the description of the

disapproved behavior
 Subst. behaviour = the speaker or another provides evidence for the

negative judgement
 Probe = another speaker requesting further details
Useful reading
 Hoey, E. M. & Kendrick, K. H. (in press). Conversation Analysis. In
A. M. B. de Groot & P. Hagoort (eds.), Research Methods in
Psycholinguistics: A Practical Guide. Wiley Blackwell.

http://pubman.mpdl.mpg.de/pubman/item/escidoc:2328034/component/
escidoc:2328033/CAmethods_RMP.pdf

 http://www.let.rug.nl/mazeland/ELL06maz.pdf

 Sidnell, Jack and Tanya Stivers (eds). The Handbook of

Conversation Analysis. Blackwell Publishing, 2013. Blackwell
Reference Online